Greek parliament approves reform bill ahead of bailout review

The country’s umbrella civil servants’ union, ADEDY, and the PAME labor union which is affiliated with the Communist Party (KKE) were to hold two separate protest rallies on Friday night as Greek MPs prepare to vote on a multi-bill of measures.

GREEK prime minister Alexis Tsipras faced his first test in the country’s newly elected parliament yesterday since a bailout rebellion split his party and triggered a snap general election last month.

The bill included a new spherical of tax hikes for all taxpayers which have already prompted robust reactions, in addition to the introduction of harder penalties for tax evaders.

Greece has promised to present a comprehensive pension reform plan by December, while a panel on the pension system’s viability is due to issue its report on Thursday, taking into account demographics and the deterioration in employment during years of crisis.

“We can’t accept a new crime at the people’s expense”.

Lawmakers early Saturday backed a bill to penalize early retirement and expand a widely hated property tax, among other cost-cutting commitments required in return for a 2 billion-euro ($2.3 billion) loan installment.

Greece has agreed to a three-year aid package totalling 86 billion euros.

“There are no new measures here”.

Acknowledging that more pain awaits Greek society after six years of steep recession before the situation improves, the government has pledged to attempt to balance the new losses accumulating from the bailout measures with a parallel programme that will contain policies to support the most vulnerable social groups. “There are hard measures that we all knew about”, Tsipras said.

“We won’t compromise, we won’t hand over”.